


Embrace

by thesometimeswarrior



Series: Two Hundred Words for Two Hundred Fics! A Celebratory Fic Prompt-Fest! [15]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Double Drabble, Episode: s03e19 Sozin's Comet Part 2 The Old Masters, Gen, Guilt, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Uncle-Nephew Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:14:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29893392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesometimeswarrior/pseuds/thesometimeswarrior
Summary: His kneecaps burn, and he’s been here before—bent low like this, head bowed, knees digging into the ground, a thousand apologies ready on his trembling lips.
Relationships: Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Ozai & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Two Hundred Words for Two Hundred Fics! A Celebratory Fic Prompt-Fest! [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1567093
Comments: 12
Kudos: 50





	Embrace

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt: Given Zuko’s history with parental abuse, what was he thinking about when he went to apologize to Iroh/in the moment Iroh pulls him into the hug?**  
>    
> \--
> 
> Another one I was about a year late on. Thanks to the anonymous asker for your patience!

His kneecaps burn, and he’s been here before—bent low like this, head bowed, knees digging into the ground, a thousand apologies ready on his trembling lips. 

Last time, though, he hadn’t been at fault. It’d been his father who’d been wrong, no matter what Ozai snarled at him in the moment, no matter what his mind continues to whisper now...Ozai had been wrong then, not him, not him…

It’s different now. Uncle is not in the wrong. Uncle, who bandaged his blistering eye, exiled himself from his own country, poured him hot tea on those arctic nights when nightmares roused him awake, marked himself as a traitor, plunged into poverty—all for him, so he would not be alone...And Zuko turned on him, spit fire in his beard...

Last time, his father had seared his face when Zuko had been nothing but loyal. This time, when he really _has_ been disloyal, surely the punishment will be worse…But that’s alright, he tells himself. He deserves it, he deserves it…

It’s a shock, therefore, that, when Uncle snatches him up for the first time in months...it’s only to pull him to an embrace as warm as embers.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I love comments!
> 
> \--
> 
> This is part of a series of double drabbles I'm writing to celebrate having written 200 fics on ao3!
> 
> I'm accepting prompts in the following fandoms:
> 
> 1) Steven Universe  
> 2) Avatar: The Last Airbender  
> 3) Gravity Falls  
> 4) Tanakh or Talmud


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